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CKREMONIBS 



ACCOMPANYING THE 



Presentation of tt)e Magellanic Premium 



BY THE 



American Philosophical Society, 



TO 



P R O K . UTTsA . H A U P T 



ON 



DyCi^Y 4=, 1888. 



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^jJm^n&f^^ Cc^a^t Bur 






U.S.C IMDG.SUPVEY, 

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES 



Ceremonies accompanying the Presentation of 
the Magellanic Premium, by the American 
Philosophical Society, to Prof.L. M. Haupt, 
on May 4th, 1888. 



The Committee appointed December 16, 1887, to prepare 
the Magellanic Medal, reported that the same was now ready 
and delivered it to the President, who gave it to Prof. L. M. 
Haupt with the following address : 

"Prof. Haupt, it is a great gratification tome, both personally and offi- 
cially, to present to you the Magellanic Premium, which has been awarded 
by the American Philosophical Society for your essay on * The Physical 
Phenomena of Harbor Entrances, their Causes and Remedies. ' This essay 
treats of matters of great national importance, and your discussion of them 
will greatly tend to the improvement of the methods now in use for effect- 
ing the permanent removal of the obstacles in our harbors and rivers, 
which are so dangerous to navigation and are so fall of risk to the lands and 
buildings along their shore-lines. A glance at the map of the United 
States will show the great number of our navigable rivers and the vast ex- 
tent of coast lines, and their valuable and important harbor entrances. 
And it is therefore important that the money appropriated for their im- 
provement and enlargement shall be wisely and scientifically expended. 
I think your suggestions will be found very valuable in securing stability 
• to all artificial structures that may be erected in our great waters for their 
protection and convenient use, and you are therefore entitled to be hon- 
ored as a public benefactor. The Magellanic Premium was established 
in the year 1786, and the records of the Society show that only six awards 
of the medal and one honorary pecuniary premium have been made within 
the century. Yours is therefore the seventh premium. It is thus shown 
that the terms under which the premium can be claimed are difficult to be 



met, but 5'^ou have filled them, and I sincerely and cordially congratulate 
you on your success." 

Prof. Haupt made tlie following reply : 

*' Mr. President and fellow-members of the American Philosophical 
Society : — Accepting this estimable token of approval, which this distin- 
guished Society has conferred upon the results of my investigations, it 
gives me great pleasure to express to you my grateful obligations for this 
unusual mark of approbation. 

"The conditions accompanying applications for the Magellanic Pre- 
mium being such as to eliminate entirely all personal elements, I felt that 
the opportunity of obtaining a critical and impartial investigation of my 
researches was thus admirably presented, and that no more competent 
body, organized for scientific research, could be found to pass judgment 
upon a matter which I deemed of great importance to the commercial, 
scientific and engineering development of our country. 

" I was pleased, therefore, to embrace this opportunity of presenting 
the paper on ' The Physical Phenomena of Harbor Entrances ' to the 
American Philosophical Society for consideration and action. Whatever 
value the paper may have, and the weight and influence it may exert in 
the future, in modifying the plans for meeting the difficult requirements 
of maritime works, are chiefly due to the careful and deliberate considera- 
tion which your Society and committees have given to the subject; and, 
deeply as I feel the honor, as well as the responsibility, which this ap- 
proval of my labors places upon me, I earnestly hope you will permit me 
to state that, whatever may be my share of the merit conferred, it is but 
the reflection of that emanating from yourselves as members of this 
learned Society. 

"To me your endorsement is at this time particularly encouraging, for 
already I find myself in the position of the pioneer who breaks loose from 
the well-trodden highways and seeks to discover a new path through the 
trackless waste. His task is full of responsibility, and he needs to keep 
well in view his landmarks; sometimes ahead, at others behind him. 
So I find myself looking back for my bearings whilst I am pressing for- 
ward toward the goal, w^hich is the introduction of these plans at some 
suitable port of entry along our coast. 

"The difficulties which I expected to find, and do find, in this effort are 
those resulting from conservatism and inertia of the Government ma- 
chinery ; but they are inherent to all development and furnish additional 
evidence of the soundness of the conclusions you have already reached. 
It is, therefore, with peculiar satisfaction that I look upon this medal, the 
seal of your approbation, not as upon an ignis fatuus, to lure me on to 
destruction, but as a talisman to encourage me in pursuing the waj'- 1 have 
taken as one leading to a laudable end. 



"The discussions, which opposition must provoke, should result in 
elucidating more clearly the principles embodied in these physical studies 
and in removing them more and more from the domain of theory and 
planting them upon the firmer foundations of fact. 

" By this means they will be brought to the knowledge of the unpro- 
fessional reader and receive the support of those most directly interested 
in their application, 

"I have observed that in dealing with physical questions, involving 
only inert matter, the problems are comparatively simple, whilst those of 
a social character which enter the domain of mind become exceedingly 
complex, yet these two classes appear to be almost inseparably related. 
In developing an engineering project, the first stage is that of mental con- 
ception and evolution; the second, that of education and propagation; and 
the third, that of execution or construction. It is in the second stage 
where the greatest difliculties are encountered, for it is always a difficult 
task to undertake to modify prevailing impressions. The contest is an 
unequal one, but when the changes proposed are based upon and allied to 
Truth they must ultimately prevail. Otherwise, they must as certainly 
fail, and this is therefore the crucial stage. 

" A distinguished philosopher says: ' The best way to come to Truth is 
to examine things as really they are, and not to conclude they are as we 
fancy of ourselves, or have been taught by others to imagine. ' 

"If we could but lay aside previous impressions and prejudices it would 
be an easy matter to apply this advice to see things ' as really they are,' 
but, unfortunately, judgment is too often blinded by habit or education. 
This prevalent propensity of accepting statements without investigation, or 
of reaching conclusions from superficial observations, has led mankind 
into many errors which can only be removed by searching and impersonal 
discussions. Such discussions, therefore, should be welcomed as tending 
to the perfection of knowledge and the revelation of Truth. 

" The studies which I have submitted to you have been my recreation 
and delight, and in pursuing them I have realized the truth and beauty 
contained in these lines from ' Thalaba : ' 

" ' Learn thou, O young man, 
God hath appointed wisdom the reward of study ! 

'Tis a well of living waters, 
Whose inexhaustible bounties all might drink, 

But few dig deep enough . ' 

"The treasures of wisdom are only to be unearthed by digging deeply, 
and I believe it accords with the experience of every investigator, that the 
deeper he delves the more treasure he discovers. Especially is this true 
when applied to investigations relative to the laws of the physical world, 
and, as each increment of knowledge is added to that already gleaned, 
the mind of the devout student becomes more and more fully impressed 
with the sense of his own impotence and of the infinite majesty and wis- 



dom of Him who, from the beginning, conceived, created and continually 
maintains the universe; to whom belongs all the glory, praise and honor 
of our feeble efforts forever. 

"This idea of our dependence upon the Supreme Being your committee 
have very happily embodied in the motto which they have placed upon 
the medal : ' Non mutare Dei leges, sed in Tiominum usum adhibere. ' " * 

* Note.— The Medal is of gold, oval in form, two and a quarter inches long by one and 
seven-eighths wide. The inscription (in alto-relievo) on the obverse is : 

The 
Premium 

OP 

John Hyacinth 

de Magellan, 

OF London. 

Around the margin and separated from the panel by a heavy laurel wreath, is the 
motto prepared for the committee, which reads "Non Dei legts mutare, sed in hominum 
tisum adhibere.'" 



On the reverse, 



Around the margin 



Awarded 

BY the 

American 

Philosophical 

Society 

to 

Lewis M. Haupt, 

for his discovery in 

Physical Hydrography 

and for his invention of 

a System of Harbor 

Improvement. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniensis, 
December, MDCCCLXXXVII. 



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